I have been practising my Russian phrases with the little boy in the flat, he laughs at me! And gets angry with me when I don't remember the correct words... with teachers like this it's only a matter of time before I become fluent. I have been managing so far to just smile and say 'da' when I get approached by strangers but sometimes this can provoke dirty looks as if said strangers are thinking 'ignorant fool who does she think she is'... but yesterday I was approached by a drunken Baboshka begging for money and my smiles and 'da's' were not appreciated... she looked angry so I did what everyone else was doing and just ignored her. When she had stumbled off I asked my Russian friend what the old woman had been saying. It went like this 'I have had an operation on my leg and now I want to dance and today is my birthday so give me some money for alcohol'. Well they certainly tell it like it is here in Russia, none of your, 'please spare a coupla pence for a cuppa tea guvna'. There seemed to be a lot of drunken people on the streets and in the tent where we stopped for a beverage yesterday, I fear they were 'binge drinking' but here in Russia it's known plainly as 'drinking'. And the word entertainment applies here to what we know, in the UK, as 'karaoke'. But it seems that by 7pm, most of the people who frequent these places have a good 5 hours of drinking behind them, and the wails of Russian pop sung to a tinny backing tape becomes like, well, music to their ears and even something that they can dance to, but to the sober, it is unbearable and we were forced to sit outside where the noise was less deafening. I asked my friend 'is this the underclass?' and she said yes. I said 'we have something similar in Britain, it's called a Weatherspoons pub'. Hoho!